PREVIEW: GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma

By Sep 14, 2017, 2:00 PM EDT
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SONOMA, Calif. – And so it ends, once again. The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series has ticked off races at a rapid pace and the 85-lap finale, the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma (Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN), will wrap the campaign for the third straight year.

Scott Dixon’s run to a surprise title in 2015 packed all the drama, while mechanical woes for Will Power ended his hopes and secured the crown for Simon Pagenaud here last year.

These three, plus points leader Josef Newgarden and IndyCar’s perpetual nearly man Helio Castroneves have the most realistic shots at this year’s championship.

Without further adieu, here’s the talking points heading into Sonoma:

2017 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma – Talking Points

Four… maybe five-way title fight?

With the top four drivers covered by 34 points, it’s most likely going to be Newgarden, Dixon, Castroneves or Pagenaud that pulls off the title. Power, at 68 points back, still has a shot but would need to win and would need a lot of help to leapfrog the four drivers in front of him. Alexander Rossi and Graham Rahal are all but certain to be eliminated once the green flag flies.

You can read more on the “fab four” here and their title prospects here.

It’s almost guaranteed a Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing driver will win at Sonoma as these two teams have won the last 10 Sonoma races since 2007, split six Penske (Power three, Castroneves, Pagenaud and Ryan Briscoe one) and four Ganassi (Dixon three and Dario Franchitti one).

Pagenaud won from pole last year, the first polesitter to win the race since Power in 2011. Qualifying position is critical as Dixon, who started ninth in 2015, is the only driver to qualify outside the top-five and win this race since it came back on the schedule in 2005.

Top spoilers?

Andretti Autosport’s pace at Sonoma was particularly impressive last year as they hit on a setup that had eluded them all season. Ryan Hunter-Reay hasn’t won at Sonoma but has finished between second and sixth in each of the last four Sonoma races since getting speared there in 2012. Alexander Rossi was fifth last year, his second-best result of his rookie year, and enters fresh off his win at Watkins Glen. Both Marco Andretti and Takuma Sato have been occasional top-10 finishers at Sonoma as well, Andretti’s 2006 win here having been the last non-Penske/Ganassi Sonoma winner.

Others of note: Graham Rahal was second here last year and Charlie Kimball third in 2015, and both are coming off solid runs at Watkins Glen two weeks ago. Chevrolet, though, has won all six races at Sonoma since engine competition was re-introduced in 2012.

Other non-title points battles

Beyond the championship, there’s a handful of other positions in the standings up for grabs:

  • The battle for fifth: If they can’t scale the mountain that lies ahead in the battle for the title, any of Will Power (492), Alexander Rossi (476), Graham Rahal (466) and Takuma Sato (421) could move into fifth with a win or a great result. The latter three are vying to be the second-best Honda this year behind Dixon.
  • The final spots in the top-10. Tony Kanaan sits ninth (375) ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay (373), James Hinchcliffe and Max Chilton (360 each). With only 15 points covering the four of them, the top two finishing drivers among them are the likely ones to end in the final two top-10 positions.

This could be (or is) the end for so many

Whether it’s drivers in their final races with their current teams, or perhaps in the series altogether, or the manufacturer aero kits, there’s a number of entities drawing to a close at Sonoma. Such is the reality of the end-of-term race for a season that it always feels like the last day of school until the field reconvenes at St. Petersburg in the spring with renewed optimism and hopes.

The “part-time young guns look to star” crowd

Any of Indy Lights veterans Spencer Pigot, Jack Harvey or debuting Zachary Claman De Melo will look to emerge from the part-time driver crowd and join fellow Indy Lights veteran Ed Jones in the full-time IndyCar field for 2018 with one star drive in the Sonoma finale. Pigot already has, courtesy of his Thursday confirmation. If any or all of these three can bank a solid top-10 finish, it’d be a great result to hang their hat on going into the offseason.

The final word

From Dixon, who will single-handedly look to topple the quartet of Team Penske drivers and win a fifth title: “It’s a better position than what we were in 2015, but that guarantees you pretty much nothing. It’s good to be in the hunt and have a tight gap right there, but we’re still going to have to do our best to beat four of the closest competitors right there.

“I think it’s a very worthy IndyCar circuit. I think it’s a fantastic spot for a Verizon IndyCar Series championship finale, especially for spectators, too, because it’s one of those circuits that from most vantage points you have a very good advantage of being able to see the whole circuit.

“Yeah, for me it’s probably one of the toughest circuits to get right, to be honest, and it requires a lot of different thinking, I think, on the approach to setup at what we would typically do at a lot of other tracks.”

Here’s the IndyCar weekend schedule:

At-track schedule (all times local):

Thursday, Sept. 14
10 a.m. – Noon – Verizon IndyCar Series open testing, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (timing only)
2 – 6 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series open testing, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (timing only)

Friday, Sept. 15
10 a.m. – 10:45 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice 1, RaceControl.IndyCar.com
2:15 – 3 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice 2, NBCSN (live)
3:05 – 3:20 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series pit stop practice

Saturday, Sept. 16
11 – 11:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice 3, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (live)
3:30 – 4:45 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying (three rounds of knockout qualifying), NBCSN (live)

Sunday, Sept. 17
11:30 a.m. – Noon – Verizon IndyCar Series warmup, RaceControl.IndyCar.com
3:10 p.m. – Driver introductions
3:30 p.m. – NBCSN on air
3:43 p.m. – Start engines command
3:50 p.m. – GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma (85 laps/202.7 miles), NBCSN (live)

Here’s last year’s top 10:

1. Simon Pagenaud (pole)
2. Graham Rahal
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
4. Ryan Hunter-Reay
5. Alexander Rossi
6. Josef Newgarden
7. Helio Castroneves
8. Marco Andretti
9. Charlie Kimball
10. Sebastien Bourdais

Here’s last year’s Firestone Fast Six:

1. Simon Pagenaud
2. Helio Castroneves
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
4. Will Power
5. Graham Rahal
6. Ryan Hunter-Reay

With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”